November 15, 2012

Uganda: Fresh Ebola outbreak burdens health system

Uganda's Ministry of Health says a fresh outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever - the second in the country this year - is straining an already over-stretched health system.

"An outbreak of this nature poses a serious financial and human resource challenge. Our resources have been strained since July. We need additional resources to handle the current outbreak. What we have at hand is not enough," Dennis Lwamafa, the acting director-general of health Services at the Ministry of Health, told IRIN.

"With the increasing epidemic outbreaks and their frequencies, we are further constrained... The costs to manage this outbreak cause a distortion... We had not planned for it."

As of 12 November, three people - all members of the same family - were suspected to have died from Ebola in Luwero District, 50km northwest of Kampala.

Five people who had close contact with the deceased are also suspected to have contracted the disease; two of these are in an isolation unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital, Kampala, two in health centres in Luwero and one at Bombo Military Hospital, 30km north of the capital. The Ministry of Health has begun tracing people who may have had contact with the deceased and those infected.

On 15 November, Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper reported the death of a man who had presented with symptoms characteristic of Ebola at a health centre in the northwestern district of Koboko.

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Uganda's Ministry of Health says a fresh outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever - the second in the country this year - is straining an already over-stretched health system.

"An outbreak of this nature poses a serious financial and human resource challenge. Our resources have been strained since July. We need additional resources to handle the current outbreak. What we have at hand is not enough," Dennis Lwamafa, the acting director-general of health Services at the Ministry of Health, told IRIN.

"With the increasing epidemic outbreaks and their frequencies, we are further constrained... The costs to manage this outbreak cause a distortion... We had not planned for it."

As of 12 November, three people - all members of the same family - were suspected to have died from Ebola in Luwero District, 50km northwest of Kampala.

Five people who had close contact with the deceased are also suspected to have contracted the disease; two of these are in an isolation unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital, Kampala, two in health centres in Luwero and one at Bombo Military Hospital, 30km north of the capital. The Ministry of Health has begun tracing people who may have had contact with the deceased and those infected.

On 15 November, Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper reported the death of a man who had presented with symptoms characteristic of Ebola at a health centre in the northwestern district of Koboko.